All collecting requires safe practices and use of common sense. No children on rock piles unless registered.

2013 is the last Copper Country Mineral Retreat sponsored by the museum
For 2014 planning is well underway for a similar mineral collecting event sponsored by a partnership between the museum, Keweenaw Gem and Gift, and Red Metal Minerals. The tentative name of the next event will be:KEWEENAW PENINSULA MINERAL COLLECTING

--Each year we strive to provide an affordable and quality experience for participants. You only pay for events you attend.

--Each participant will receive a Copper Country Mineral Retreat badge from the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

--We strongly encourage you to register early to avoid disappointment if the event you really want to attend fills to maximum capacity before you register.

-- Please keep a copy of your registration form for your information as this is your itinerary. No mailing will be done, pick up registration package at the museum. Your registration package will contain name badge, maps for the museum collecting events, and receipt.

--All week registered retreat participants will get Free Admission to the Museum and All Museum Gift Shop Merchandise will be discounted 15 % to registered retreat participants. During the Museum Open House on Thursday evening the museum’s Mineral Preparation Annex will be open with surplus minerals at a special discount of 20 %. Retreat badge is required for discount.

A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum Registration Details
Download registration form from this web site
Registration during the event at the Museum 9:00 am – 5:00 pm or by phone 906-487-2572

Prepared Surface Collecting Events

The retreat organizers have obtained legal permission to access and prepare old mine rock piles for surface collecting. You may be on the site legally ONLY during the times of the event. We contract heavy equipment (bulldozer or excavator) to move rock to expose new materials for collecting. The newly moved rock will be coated with fine particles, “muck”, which will make finding minerals more challenging. Your eyes are the essential tool for mineral collecting. For finding minerals such as datolite or greenstone, your eyes are the only tool! For finding native copper and native silver a metal detector can be quite valuable and many would consider it essential to finding copper. But you can find native copper without a metal detector too! Metal detectors can interfere with each other, so there can be problems when too many people have similar metal detectors too close together in a collecting area. We try to prepare sufficient area to accommodate everyone allowed on the site. We also limit the number of participants per site. We want your collecting experience to be fun and rewarding, but there is no guarantee of finding a treasure.

You must provide your own transportation to the collecting sites, and you must provide the skill and luck of collecting.

All Day Seneca and Central Mine All Surface Collecting Events

We are offering two special all day events because of the continuing popularity of an extended collecting opportunity at a great collecting site.

This year we are offering an ALL DAY collecting event for the Central and Seneca Mines. We have been “assured” that Central Mine rock pile will be available. The recent success of mineral collecting at Seneca has lead us to conclude that an all day event at Seneca would be good for participants too.

Both sites will be prepared twice; once in the morning prior to the beginning of the event and around noon for the second time. You may need to vacate a part of the pile during the second preparation.

Museum Mineral Sale All Week and Thursday Evening

The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum will offer All merchandise in the gift shop at a 15 % discount for the entire retreat week to those who are paid CCMR registrants. The minerals area will be restocked as needed during the week.

On Thursday from 7 pm to 9 pm the museum will have surplus minerals for sale in the Museum’s Mineral Preparation Annex. The Annex sale discount will be 20 %. The week long 15 % discount will apply to merchandise in the gift shop for Thursday evening.

Open House at Keweenaw Gem and Gift in Houghton

Keweenaw Gem and Gift open house is a regular event of the mineral retreat. They will open their doors for sale of minerals and hands-on demonstrations on Saturday August 10 from 6 pm to 10 pm. The demonstrations will include copper cleaning, bead working, and cutting and cab making for datolite and agate. You can bring your datolite or agate for cutting and maybe even get them to clean small amounts of native copper too. There will be complimentary food, beverages and door prizes too!! Keweenaw Gem and Gift is located on M-26 in Houghton near Pizza Hut.